Melbourne Story - 10. Australian Culture

A few years ago, I was assigned a morning shift at a hospitality TAFE in the city on a Sunday. I was told to arrive by 7:30 a.m., so I left home around 6:30. I expected to reach Box Hill Station by about 6:45, and since the train (called a “train” here, though it’s more like a subway) would take about 30 minutes, I thought I would arrive on time without any problem.

But to my surprise, perhaps because it was Sunday, the first train was not scheduled to arrive until 7:30 a.m.

(Currently, it has been moved earlier to around 6:20 a.m.)

In Korea, even on Sundays, you wouldn’t usually need to check a separate train timetable—you could just go out and expect regular service.

“What kind of country is this? How lazy and inefficient! At a time like this, when the economy is not even strong, shouldn’t people be working harder to earn even a little more? How can a country develop like this?”

I muttered to myself in frustration. But soon after, I realized that I should have checked the timetable in advance. In any case, I felt uneasy knowing I would likely be late.

At the same time, another thought crossed my mind:

“Even after living in Australia for three years, I still haven’t truly understood the way life works here.”

In the end, I only started work at around 8:15 a.m.

Later, on my way home after finishing work, I decided to use Flagstaff Station, which is actually closer to my home than the station I usually use. But when I arrived, I found the entrance completely shut with metal gates down.

Wondering what was going on, I walked closer and saw a sign:

“Closed on Saturdays, Sundays, and public holidays.”

On weekdays, especially Monday and Tuesday mornings, this station was always crowded with people. Yet on weekends, it was completely closed.

If this had happened in Korea, there would have been an uproar. Imagine if the first train on a Sunday only arrived at 7:30 a.m., or if a station simply shut its gates on weekends and told people to use another station—what kind of reaction would there be? The mayor would likely not have been able to withstand the public outcry.

But here in Melbourne, nothing of the sort happened. It remained unchanged.

From January 2016, weekend services were finally restored to normal. But until then, this was simply part of the Australian way of life. Even after more than three years of living here, I found myself thinking that the government had not responded quickly enough to the inconvenience faced by its citizens.